The Bakers

Natelkka was attending Mt. Rubidoux SDA Church and was actively involved with the youth department as a youth leader. On a nice fall morning, November 20, 2021 to be exact, youth church was scheduled and Samuel was the selected speaker for the morning! I arrived early to help the other youth leaders set up for church and Samuel walked through the double doors of Mainess Hall to get set up for service. I saw him walk through the doors and instantly became nervous. The head youth leader, Giliane Green greeted Samuel and wanted to introduce him to the team. She goes around with him and finally gets to me. Samuel and I make eye contact and shake hands. After service there was a social happening at one of the youth's house in which Samuel was asked to attend. He goes to Giliane and asks if he could ride with someone to conserve his gas. Samuel thought he would be riding with a random mom, sister, or auntie, but Giliane let him know that he would be riding with me. Giliane comes up to me and asked if it would be okay if Samuel rides with me to the social, in which I gladly agreed. We walked to the car and instantly recognize one another from our early days at Redlands Adventist Academy. We instantly connect and begin opening up about our previous relationships, and where we were in life during that present moment. We arrive at the house where the event was taking place and sit under a tall heater on an outdoor couch. We continued to get to know each other while flirting, laughing, and having a great time. One woman that was helping with the food informed us that the grown ups may not be able to eat due to the food being scarce. Samuel leans over to me and says, "Since you were willing to allow me to ride with you, I would love to take you to get some food after the social is over". I responded, "I would love to"! A few minutes later the same lady comes back and informs the adults that there would be enough food for everyone after all. Not wanting my time to end with Samuel, I leaned over to him and say, "Even though there is enough food, I would still love to get dessert with you", in which he happily agreed. When we look back on this moment we always say that it felt like the social was revolving around us, like we were the only two there. As the social started to wind down and the kids were getting picked up, Samuel asks me if I still wanted to go grab something sweet in which I happily said "YES". We walk to my car, and he opens my door and he soon after gets into the passenger seat and we leave. We start to drive and continue to have more conversation before arriving at Starbucks. We grab some coffee and continue to talk for a couple more hours. We both realize that it was getting late so I drop him off to his car and we say our goodbyes. Little did we know, that wouldn't be our last goodbye. Ever since that beautiful November Sabbath day we never stopped talking. After six months of talking Samuel took me to Disneyland where he asked me to be his girlfriend. A year after that, on October 1, 2023, Samuel surprised me in Fontana California, got down on one knee, and popped the question! Samuel and I didn't expect a little youth social to change our lives for the better!